Premier League champion "dives" into League One, Leicester City's decade of free fall

Written by Han Bing For Leicester City, the creators of the Premier League's greatest "commoner myth," the past decade seems like an ultimate tragedy: soaring from the mortal world, then free-falling back to earth, and finally descending into hell.

At the beginning of April ten years ago, Ranieri's team achieved five consecutive wins in the Premier League. With five rounds left in the league, they led Arsenal by 6 points. The Italian coach, who had always claimed that the goal was to avoid relegation, finally shouted the slogan of winning the championship and ultimately won it.

The creators of the Premier League's "commoner myth," Leicester City, fell from heaven to earth and then into hell in just ten years, which is heartbreaking. They defied the odds of 5000 to 1 to win the championship, becoming the only team after Blackburn (1994/95 season) to break the monopoly of the traditional top five on the Premier League title. This is the only "commoner myth" in the Premier League in the past 31 seasons, including this season.

Ten years ago, the Thai-Chinese owner brought Leicester City to the peak of the Premier League championship, but the pandemic crisis led to excessive investment in the transfer market without corresponding returns. Leicester City also fell into a deep financial crisis with long-term huge losses.

In the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, Leicester City twice ranked fifth, narrowly missing the Champions League, which now seems to be a cruel turning point in Leicester City's fate.

In the 2021/22 season, the club lost £92.5 million; in the 2022/23 season, when they were relegated with a total salary of up to £200 million, the loss reached £89.7 million. Over three consecutive seasons, the cumulative loss was £215 million. In the 2024/25 season, the loss still reached £71 million, and the club has lost over £70 million three times in the last four seasons.

In the last four seasons, Leicester City has hoped to rebound, but the reconstruction workload is huge, and the losses from excessive investment cannot be reversed. After experiencing two relegations in three seasons, the club has been severely weakened. This season, the club holds a "parachute payment" (£55 million) far higher than most Championship teams, but avoiding points deduction due to violations has become a higher priority than recruiting new players. They can only sell as many players as possible to reduce losses and "comply."

If they are unfortunately relegated to League One, Leicester City will have a £42 million "parachute payment" next season, making them an absolute powerhouse in League One. However, the Blue Foxes need this fund to fill financial deficits, meaning they will still struggle to invest more in the transfer market. Continuous relegation brings decisive financial blows to the club. If they cannot return to the Championship next season, Leicester City will only have £3 million in broadcasting revenue in League One in the 2027/28 season. For the debt-ridden Blue Foxes, this is a foreseeable catastrophic disaster...

Under the severe situation of violating the Premier League's financial fair play rules for four consecutive seasons, high-salaried players have become a heavy financial burden for Leicester City. Even after selling a batch of high-salaried players last summer, Leicester City remains the highest-paid team in the Championship (£42.9 million). Sadly, due to high salaries, Leicester City has little profit margin when selling players, becoming a "stuck elephant" in the transfer market.

Even their coach change is closely related to "accounting" to minimize losses as much as possible. Van Nistelrooy, who led the team to relegation last season, was dismissed only one day before the first day of preseason training in July last year, so his termination cost could be included in this season's accounts, reducing last season's costs to meet financial regulatory requirements as much as possible. Spanish coach Sifuentes was forced to delay his appointment, objectively increasing his coaching difficulty.

Last summer, the last mainstay of the "commoner myth," Vardy, left. Key players such as goalkeeper Hermansen, defenders Justin, Coady, midfielders Ndidi, McAtee, and Cannes also left, causing panic within the team. Especially, the defense, which lost the most key players, was not adequately reinforced, leading to defensive collapse from the start of the season. Leicester City conceded goals in 30 consecutive Championship matches. In the last 16 Championship matches, Leicester City has only 1 win, 7 draws, and 8 losses, totaling only 10 points.

Sifuentes, lacking players, was forced to use more young players, inevitably leading to a decline in performance. He ultimately could not escape the fate of being dismissed and left at the end of January this year. Leicester City could only find Rowett, who was dismissed due to poor performance at Oxford United last December, to "save the fire." More despairingly, Rowett's previously coached Oxford United was also a relegation favorite.

Leicester City, once coached by Ranieri, Rodgers, and Maresca, has now fallen to expecting a dismissed relegation-favorite coach to lead the team to avoid relegation. How heartbreaking is this? After Rowett took over, Leicester City only gained 9 points in 10 matches. After losing 1-0 to Swansea at home last Saturday, the half-empty King Power Stadium seems to have already heard the bell tolling for Leicester City's relegation...

On May 2, 2026, the 10th anniversary of Leicester City's Premier League championship, the Blue Foxes will face another fallen former Premier League champion, Blackburn, in the final round of the Championship. Disappointingly, this originally immensely important纪念日 for Leicester City may likely be the team's farewell match in the Championship. Next season, Leicester City may极有可能堕入 League One, the third-tier league, starting from their lowest point,从头再来.

Ten years ago, Leicester City won the Premier League championship. In the 2021/22 season, Leicester City also reached the Europa League semifinals. BBC Sports专栏作家 Blackmore lamented: "As lifelong fans of Leicester City, ten years ago we never dreamed of winning the Premier League championship, and of course the FA Cup. This golden decade is about to end, and it's really hard for fans to accept."

Stowell, who served as Leicester City's goalkeeper coach for 16 years, has considered Leicester City his second home. He experienced Leicester City's rise from League One to Premier League champion, then the fall from Premier League champion to second-to-last in the Championship, and很可能重回 League One. Stowell, like Blackmore, believes Leicester City should not have such a tragic season结局, but除了接受别无选择: "We still hope to avoid relegation, but even if we return to League One, we must accept it. The team experienced an unprecedented peak, but in football, if you stagnate, you will regress and be left behind by time."

Blackmore形容离开英超一个赛季都像“一个世纪那般漫长”，但现在 Leicester City很可能至少需要3个赛季才能重返英超. Local defender Nelson, who served as a ball boy ten years ago, believes Leicester people should be hopeful: "On that night ten years ago值得每位 Leicester City球迷纪念, Italian tenor Bocelli sang in the center circle, and when the team高高举起 the Premier League trophy, it足以让 Leicester人对未来报以足够的期待."

Leicester City has a悠久历史 of 142 years. Since升上 the Second Division (the当时的英格兰次级联赛) in the 1894/95 season, they waited 14 seasons to首次登上英格兰顶级联赛的舞台, followed by another漫长的16年等待. Blackmore is disappointed with Leicester City's现状,但并不绝望: "After relegation from the Premier League in the 2003/04 season, we waited 10 years to重返英超,其间也跌入过 League One. Then came the队史最辉煌的10年, 5冠军奖杯, Champions League quarter-finals and Europa League semifinals.没有理由认为,我们无法重返英超. In the 2008/09 season, we跌入 League One, didn't we also等了6年重返英超?"